SBI to raise Rs 15,000 cr in FY18; Inks MoU with CREDAI

STATE Bank of India (SBI) will raise equity capital up to Rs 15,000 crore in the next financial year to shore up capital adequacy. The board gave its nod for the move in its meeting on March 15. The approval is given to raise equity capital through routes like follow-on public offering (FPO), rights offering, overseas placement and employee stock options, SBI informed the BSE.
SBI executive said nod from the board...
is an enabling provision.  The bank would raise capital from the market at an opportune time, subject to approval from government of India, its majority owner, and banking regulator Reserve Bank of India.
The capital adequacy ratio stood at 13.73 per cent, with tier I at 10.65 per cent on December 31, 2016. SBI has strong capital base to support growth.
In a related development, SBI and the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a period of three years to work towards development of the real estate sector.
"SBI and CREDAI will jointly conduct various initiatives towards the development of the real estate sector for a period of three years. They have a common objective of providing housing for all. Each of them will leverage their individual strengths and collaborate in areas which will be beneficial to the sector and the consumers at large," the SBI said in a statement.
The MoU was signed on March 6-7."SBI will be a national partner for all CREDAI activities. SBI and CREDAI will jointly work together for various marketing activities like conclaves, seminars, exhibitions, campaigns and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as well," the statement said.
CREDAI is the largest real estate association in the country with over 11,500 members.
"We see a lot of synergies in working with CREDAI," SBI Managing Director Rajnish Kumar said."The CREDAI-SBI MoU is meant to cater to both home loans and construction finance requirements of the real estate sector. We believe that availability of finance at lower rates would help fulfil CREDAI's goal of making housing more affordable," CREDAI President Geetambar Anand said. Public sector lender SBI has over 16,000 branches and 190 offices worldwide. The government owns 59 per cent of the bank's equity capital.